Rent Scarlet Street (1945)
3.8 of 5 from 89 ratings
1h 43min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Christopher Cross (Edward G. Robinson) is a meek but respected bank clerk who, on his way home from a dinner in recognition of his service, goes to the aid of Kitty Marsh (Joan Bennett) who is being attacked by Johnny Prince, her lowlife boyfriend (Dan Duryea). Attracted by her beauty, but contrary to his usual persona, he takes Kitty for a drink and tells her that he is a famous painter. Kitty and Johnnie soon plan to take Chris for all he's got. He is pulled into a world of crime and deception by this seductive femme fatale and her manipulative boyfriend. For their sins Kitty and Johnnie pay a heavy price but, after a bizarre chain of events and sordid brutality, it is Chris who is left a broken man, deranged - and in a living hell. - Actors:
- Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Dan Duryea, Margaret Lindsay, Rosalind Ivan, Jess Barker, Charles Kemper, Anita Sharp-Bolster, Samuel S. Hinds, Vladimir Sokoloff, Arthur Loft, Russell Hicks
- Directors:
- Fritz Lang
- Producers:
- Fritz Lang
- Writers:
- Georges de La Fouchardière, André Mouézy-Éon, Dudley Nichols
- Studio:
- Eureka
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama, Thrillers
- Collections:
- 100 Years of German Expressionism, A Brief History of Galleries and Museums in Film: Part 2, Film History, A Brief History of Film..., The Instant Expert's Guide, The Instant Expert's Guide to Jean Renoir, The Instant Expert's Guide to: Fritz Lang, Top 10 French-Language Remakes
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- Unknown
- Run Time:
- 103 minutes
- Languages:
- English
- Subtitles:
- None
- Formats:
- NTSC
- Aspect Ratio:
- Full Screen 1.33:1 / 4:3
- Colour:
- B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- (0) All
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Reviews (1) of Scarlet Street
The best of Lang's forties noirs. - Scarlet Street review by Steve
Remake of Jean Renoir's French film La Chienne (1931) is a grotesque love triangle between Joan Bennett's slovenly sex worker, her stupid braggart pimp (Dan Duryea) and Edward G. Robinson as a middle aged downtrodden husband regrettably infatuated with Bennett.
Chris Cross (Robinson) is weekend painter who discovers he is a genius only when his paintings are stolen and sold by the others but fate decides he should not receive any of the rewards and leads him deep down into murder and madness.
Robinson is startlingly submissive as the humiliated older man tormented and mocked by Kitty March (Bennett). He kneels to paint her toenails ('make them masterpieces'), wears his wife's frilly apron in the kitchen and is constantly harangued to carry out menial kitchen tasks by his bullying wife after a long day at the bank. There is a strong theme of sexual fetish in the film, which is very noir.
Scarlet Street is an extremely downbeat film and oddly the note of the absurd just makes it even more desolate. It has the tight, schematic narrative of a parable as it relentlessly punishes Robinson for straying from his designated path. Bennett is particularly good as the uncouth slattern who claims Cross' modernist masterpieces as her own. It's has an atmosphere that lingers long in the memory.
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